


Lost

by DarthChocolate



Series: Star Wars Guardians [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Gen, Post-Season/Series 04 Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 06:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15189023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthChocolate/pseuds/DarthChocolate
Summary: Grand Admiral Thrawn has always been a big picture or end game focus. There is major flaw in his master plan. A plan that has existed in both Legends and new Canon. This causes him to lose everything.





	Lost

A blinding light fell over the Chimaera. When it turned off, the purgill released their grip and jumped away. The life support shields rolled up in time to prevent him from being sucked into space. Grand Admiral Thrawn dropped to the floor.  
Thrawn grabbed a blaster and aimed it at Ezra Bridger. “This stunt of yours isn’t going to save the Rebellion or your world.”  
“Grand Admiral!” A voice called out from the Imperial comms. “Grand Admiral Thrawn!”  
“Status report, Captain Pellaeon.”  
The old human male replied. “Minimum damage, sir.”  
“What are our new coordinates?”  
“We don’t know, sir.” There was quiet nervous muttering going on in the background as they scrambled for a better answer.  
Thrawn quickly glanced at the map. It seemed familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint a location. “Where are we, Mr. Bridger?”  
Ezra shrugged his shoulders. “Where ever the Force deems us to be?”  
Thrawn wanted to say that was “utter nonsense.” However, he hated being unprofessional and emotional. His stormtroopers finally opened the bridge door. “Take Mr. Bridger to the medcenter and then to a cell.”  
Ezra went with the stormtroopers without any fuss.  
Very little in the universe surprised Thrawn. His second glance at the map shocked him to his core. He knew the location, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe it.  
“Sir, we are getting a signal from an unknown ship and in unknown language.” An officer interrupted.   
“Patch it in.” Thrawn listened to the message and answered back in the same language. It was in his native language. “Please speak in Basic, Admiral Ar’alani.”  
“Of course.” The female Chiss stated. “We are under heavy fire. We need help.”  
“We’ll head there now.” Thrawn ordered his fleet to the location in the Unknown Regions. They were able to be pushed back the enemy vessels away from the Chiss ship. The enemy’s vessels fleed. Thrawn’s fleet and the Chiss ships withdrew to a Chiss Expansion Defense Force’s base for repairs.  
Admiral Ar’alani and his old friend Eli Vanto boarded the Chimaera to give a report of the situation. “If you hadn’t had been here, we would have lost.” She admitted.  
“What happen?” Thrawn questioned. “We have always been able to ward off their attacks before.”  
“You were right, sir. These Rakatan’s forces have increased in numbers.” Ar’alani explained. “They’re five times greater than we anticipated. In addition, they have powerful weapons such a beam that can cut through half of our fleet in on shot and a gravity hook to yank ships into one another. Without help, I fear the outcome for our people.”  
“We’ll get help.” Thrawn assured her.  
“How did you know to come here?” Eli pondered.  
“It’s complicated.” Thrawn felt uncomfortable. He noticed a Chiss officer whispered something into Ar’alani’s ear.  
She grimaced at the news. “Aristocra Fombi wishes to speak with you.”  
“In private?”  
She shook her head. “At your holding cells.”  
Thawn and Eli left to met with him. “Aristocra Fombi,” Thrawn bowed. Eli followed suit. “How can we assist you?” His offer was halfhearted. While he respected the necessity of politics, Thrawn often found them frustrating and difficult to work with.   
Fombi pointed to the cell. “Is the Jedi Ezra Bridger imprisoned in there?”  
“Yes, he is.”  
“Good, I wish to speak to him.”  
This was interesting indeed. Fombi had always been a stoic against outsiders. Thrawn was interested about what scheme he was playing at. When they walked into the cell, they saw Ezra dropping from a vent.  
“Were you trying to escape?” Eli exclaimed.  
Ezra shrugged his shoulders. “It’s what I do.”  
Fombi ignored this. “Are you Jedi Ezra Bridger, and was your master Kanan Jarrus whom real name was Caleb Dume?”   
“Yeah,” Ezra glanced back and forth from Thrawn to Fombi.  
“Prove it.” Fombie tossed him ornate box.  
“A Jedi Holocron!” Ezra was taken back at the sight of it. “How did you get this?”  
“A friend,” Fombi responded. “I need you to open it. It has vital information against the Rakatan. They are not only our enemies but are enemies to the entire galaxy.”  
There were not many other options, and it didn’t seem like a bad idea. Ezra calmed his mind and opened the holocron. A hologram of man appeared. “The Rakatan sought to enslave and conquer the entire galaxy. Thankfully the Jedi Order and the Republic were able to destroy them. They had a powerful weapon called a Star Forge which is fueled by a literal star.”  
Fombi grabbed the holocron floating in the air. “We should be able to access the rest of the information on our own. Thank you. If you wish to observe the process, you may accompany me.”  
“Wait,” Ezra held up his hands. “Does that mean I’m free to go?”  
“Yes, you are.” Fombi answered.  
“Aristocra, you don’t have the authority to do that!” Thrawn objected.  
Fombi rebuked him. “Are you for our people or for the Empire?”  
“You know where I stand.” Thrawn couldn’t admit his loyalty to his people on an Imperial ship.  
“The Jedi saved our people’s lives.” Fombi heavily emphasized, “You in particular are indebted to him.”  
“Fine,” Thrawn conceded. “Mr. Bridger may accompany you.”  
Naturally, rebel Ezra took the offer of leaving angry Imperial ship. Thrawn knew that he would. He hated not knowing what Fombi had been mentioning about. He tried to call to mind anything related. He remembered two events in the past that the details weren’t clear. One involved his father. He made contact with his home world and verify that no Jedi had been involved.  
However, the other incident with his brother Thrass had been harder to find out about. A mysterious incident after the Varaagi conflict had no information concerning that time. With his brother death, Thrawn couldn’t simply ask him. He cross-referenced the lapse in time with other Chiss. Some were dead too. Others were in the middle of the fighting.  
It took several months to reach General Drask. They met after the battle in UR41-284 system. Ezra Bridger had been promoted to lieutenant in the Expansionary Force. This meant Ezra was being placed in a position within the Chiss government. He needed to learn Fombi agenda soon before Ezra moves higher up the chain of command.   
“I know Commander Thrass had been fighting the Vagaari before his force came to save us. The Jedi Lorana Jinzler was with him.” Drask had sat down to debrief Thrawn about the incident. “She personally saved my life from Flesh Monsters. She helped all of us escape that planet.”  
“Why was the matter kept secret?” Eli had been sitting next to Thrawn. He needed someone that he could trust if things went south. “Is it because the Chiss despise Force users?”  
“No, she was fine. Actually, we liked her. Commander Thrass even went back to the planet in hopes of retrieving her. The Neti said she perished in a struggle against Dark Force users.” Thrawn could hear the sorrow in Drask’s voice.   
“What was the reason for the incident to be kept secret from both the Defense and Expansion fleets?” Thrawn frankly questioned him.  
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Drask took a deep breath. He looked straight at Thrawn and Eli. He said, “a wolf. It was because a giant Force wolf. Our blasters didn’t phase it all. The wolf knew things about Aristocra Fombi that no one could possibly know. It vanished into thin air. I swear that I am telling you the truth.”  
“I believe you.” Thrawn assured him.  
“Have you seen the creature too?”  
“Something similar.”  
“There are more creatures like that out there?”  
“Doubtful.”  
Eli interjected. “What was Aristocra Fombi relationship to Lorana?”  
“They weren’t particularly close. In the end, I think he respected her. She wasn’t arrogant and demanding like Neti Force users. She had always been respectful.”  
“Did his opinion about the Jedi change due to her?” Eli asserted.  
“None of our opinions changed. We just considered her a pleasant fluke.”  
“Thank you for speaking with us, general.” Thrawn stood up.  
“Of course, we are all indebted to your fleet. Without you, our death toll would have been catastrophic.” Drask departed to his ship.  
Eli spoke to Thrawn in private. “Why did you believe his story about the wolf?”  
Thrawn touched briefly the mask on his desk. “On Atollon, I encountered a powerful creature. Everything that we shot at him did no damage. He also vanished in front of my eyes.”  
“The creature knew something about you too. Something that he couldn’t possibly have known.”  
“He told me how Ezra was going to defeat me.” Thrawn stopped in front of Sabine’s artwork.  
“Do you think Aristocra Fombi treatment of Ezra is due to this wolf?”  
“Obviously,” Thrawn concurred. “Now all we need to discover is his concerns about this wolf.”  
Thrawn had made request to speak with Fombi alone, but all of them were declined. All his informants came up with nothing. He saw his opportunity when Ezra was present at a briefing. He decided to confront Fombi head on. It had been a long while since he had a spar of words with a fellow Chiss.  
“Why is he here at this meeting?”  
Fombi pointed to the Rakatan forces on the holo display. “To advise us on the upcoming battle. The Jedi had defeated them once before.”  
Actually, an army of Jedi had done that. Thrawn corrected that in his mind. “You are putting your trust in Jedi sorcery?”  
“I’m not arrogant enough to waste a potential resource when we are clearly lacking.” Fombi emphasized an embarrassing fact against him.   
Since almost the moment that Thrawn arrived in the Unknown Regions of space, he sent a message to the Empire for aid. All this time, he has received no word back from them. “Are you not just afraid of the Force and enemy’s possible use of the Force?”  
“Our people have always held the Force to be powerful and dangerous. You agree that warrants respects. As with any weapon, you need to examine the individual wielding it and decide to trust them based on that. This Jedi has only used his power to protect the welfare of his own people. Isn’t that what we are trying to do?”  
All the other military officers agreed with Fombi so there was no point in arguing the matter. Thrawn knew better. Only cunning and strength would win. That’s why he sided with the Empire. About two year later, he was finally contacted by Emperor Palpatine. Thrawn formally stated his request for aid against Rakatan. The emperor’s answer was precise and brutal. “No.”  
“You made a promise to us.”  
“My promises to my own people come first.” The emperor declared. “We are too busy fighting the rebels to help you at this time.”  
“You do realize once they’re done with us. They’ll come for you next.” Thrawn reminded him.  
“If it becomes a problem, we’ll handle it ourselves then.”  
“You won’t offer any assistance even after my years of service to the Empire.”  
“Service such as the defeat of that pathetic squad of rebel starfighters over Lothal.” The emperor scoffed. “Do you know what your temporary little victory costed us? You requisition ships from the neighboring planets such as Mon Cal for Lothal’s defense. Mon Cal was left vulnerable for the rebels to rebuild their factories. They made fleets of ships to support the rebels. What did you accomplish with all those additions and extra expense? Nothing! My factories were destroyed, and the temple lost. No, I own you nothing. You know how I treat failure. Don’t come back!”  
The transmission didn’t end. The signal broke. Thrawn went to the communication terminal. He inquired about what had happen.  
“We are no longer getting a signal or even feedback from our satellites.” The officer told him.  
“What about the other satellite on Bakura?”  
“It has been disabled by the Empire about five years ago.”  
Thrawn returned to his flagship and waited for terrible outcome to befall him. Eli Vanto entered his office and saw him standing behind his desk. Thrawn stared at the mosaic on his wall.  
“Captain Pellaeon received a secret transmission from Imperial Command.”  
“Of course, he did,” Thrawn nodded his head. He pointed to the mosaic. “Notice those two lizards, Ysalamiri. I encountered them on the forest planet of Myrkr. They are very gentle creatures. I remember one climbing up me and laying across my shoulders. They were preyed on by the cunning and powerful vornskrs. In any confrontation, the predator always wins. It’s a simple truth. I forgot another truth. A strong and ruthless predator never helps. It conquers and devours. The Empire was never going to aid my people.” He turned around. “Could you please ask Captain Pellaeon to come to my office?”  
Captain Pellaeon arrived swiftly to his office. “Yes sir?”  
“The emperor has contacted you.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“He has ordered you to remove me from command and head back to Imperial command.”  
“Well, captain?” Thrawn braced himself to be overthrown.  
“I have been a soldier for many years now. A soldier follows orders, but they also don’t leave a man behind. What is your orders, grand admiral?”  
“Prepare our forces for an assault against the Rakatan.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“And captain,” Thrawn called out to him. “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> For more information on upcoming stories go to https://aurora-light-blog.tumblr.com/


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